Insulating material.



1 UNITED STATES PATEN T ()FFIOE.

INSULATING MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 19, 1905.

Application filed November 28, 1904. Serial No. 234,515.

To all whom, it m,a, z concern.-

Be it known that I, DOMINIOK W. SHARKEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Wakefield, borough of the Bronx, city of New York, in thecounty of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Insulating Materials, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to insulating materials, particularly forheatinsulation and heatinsulating coverings, and has for its object theutilization of waste or refuse material in the production of such aninsulating material or compound.

The waste or refuse material which I employ is that discarded in thewell-known Solvay soda-ash process. This waste material exists in greatquantities in the neighborhood of the works at Syracuse, State of NewYork, where the Solvay process has been carried on for many years, andis usually in the form of a moist and somewhat chalky mass, which driesto a powder. It flows from the works in fluid condition, and this fluidcondition is gradually changed to that of the moist and chalky mass ofwhich these great deposits are composed. An analysis of an undried massfreshly dug from this deposit shows the folvlowing substances present inabout the following proportions: silica, 0.6386; iron and aluminium,0.4102; calcium oxid, 29.4006; magnesium oxid, 0.7007; carbon dioxid,16.0246; sulfuric anhydrid, 0.4269; chlorin, 0.1019; sodium, 0.0560, andwater 52.2405. Thesesubstancesareprobablyprincipallycombined as follows:silica, 0.6386; iron and aluminium, 0.4102; calcium carbonate, 34.667 9;calcium hydrate, 12.8017; magnesium carbonate, 1.4714; calcium sulfate,0.7257; sodium chlorid, 0.1679; free water, 49.1166. In the making of myinsulating material I mix this refuse with fibrous material and haveemployed as such fibrous material asbestos or mineral wool in the formof asbestos fiber and in the form of asbestos cement. This refuse massmay be taken in the wet and deposited condition in which it is found anddirectly mixed with the asbestos, with slight, if any, addition ofwater, and after a thorough admixture has been had the material ormixture may be dried, preferably by subjecting it to a moderate heat.can be varied to suit requirements; but I have employed a mass ofasbestos fiber with about an equal bulk of the soda-ash refuse. If thesoda-ash refuse has been permitted to dry before admixture with theasbestos, it is necessary to moisten the mass with water to bring it toa plastic or mortar-like condition before performing the mixingoperation.

Where it is desired to apply the insulating compound in a mass directlyupon the pipes or other surfaces to be insulated, it may be applied insuch moist condition after the admixture has been made and before themass has been permitted to set, and when the mass is permitted to dry ormoderately heated to facilitate its drying it will acquire in drying acoherent and sufliciently hard condition to fully answer therequirements of such insulating coverings. The drying operation, whichwith theunmixed soda-ash refuse would produce merely a dry powder,produces in this admixture a firmly set, hard, and coherent mass.

The admixture of soda-ash refuse and asbestos may be molded intoanydesired shape or configuration and dried and may be put upon themarket in such conditionas, for example, in sectional coverings andblocks or masses of insulating material.

I have also produced the insulating material by admixture of commercialasbestos cement with the soda-ash refuse and find that such materialmeasurably possessesthe desired properties. It is obvious that incarrying my invention into practice and in producinginsulating-coverings for the various uses in which such material may beemployed the relative proportions of the asbestos and sodaash refuse maybe varied, and various modifications may be made in the details of manu-The proportions employed facture within the principle and scope of myinvention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An insulating material composed of a mixture of fibrous material andthe deposited waste product of the Solvay soda-ash process, wasteproduct of the Solvaysoda-ash process,

substantiallyas set forth. substantially as set forth. I 2. Aninsulating material composed of a 1 In testimony whereof I have aifixedmy Sig mixture of asbestos and the deposited Waste nature in presence oftwo Witnesses.

product of the Solvay soda-ash process, sub- DOMINIGK W. SHARKEY.stantially as set forth. Witnesses:

3. An insulating material composed of a mixture of asbestos fiber andthe deposited HENRY D. WILLIAMs, 1 HENRY BARNES.

